Local Blogs

About this blog: I'm a late thirties mother of a ten-year-old and infant twins. My family moved to Menlo Park 6 years ago from Virginia - where I grew up, went to college, got married, had my first born, and got an MBA (in that order). I'm a manag... (More)

About this blog: I'm a late thirties mother of a ten-year-old and infant twins. My family moved to Menlo Park 6 years ago from Virginia - where I grew up, went to college, got married, had my first born, and got an MBA (in that order). I'm a manager at Google, Inc. (Please note: The views expressed in this blog are my personal views and not those of Google.) My husband grew up in Los Angeles and is a novelist and professor at San Jose State University. Our daughter attends the Menlo Park public schools, and I was a member of the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation board for three years. I am now a board member for the Center for Literary Arts at SJSU. I struggled with secondary infertility for five years and recently conceived and delivered fraternal twins - a healthy baby girl and boy in May 2013. I've worked (and pursued my graduate degree) since my elder daughter was twelve weeks old. I supported my husband throughout his graduate education, and now I'm the primary breadwinner for our family. I have coped with the pressures and angst of what that means for many years. I am lucky to have a husband with a flexible schedule; he shoulders the lion's share of housework, cooking, and childcare in our home. I'm looking forward to engaging with men and women who can relate to the challenges of modern day life in Silicon Valley. (Hide)

Where has our unstructured time gone?

Uploaded: Mar 5, 2014

Much has been made of the decline of unstructured time in our kids' lives. Around February each year, I brace myself for the barrage of emails I get from the parents of my daughter's friends inquiring about our plans for summer. Last spring, when we were expecting twins, was no exception. Were we sending our daughter to Camp (insert cheeky, posh adjective here) in July? What was our daughter doing the week of June 16?

Let me repeat what was happening last summer: My daughter was expecting the arrival of her long-awaited siblings. We had no idea what to expect and wanted to avoid over-scheduling her summer. After all, it was one of the only times in her life when she could look forward to having both parents at home - not to mention visits from her grandparents. "I don't know," I responded to each of the inquiries. "I think she's doing Camp Cinderella that week."

"What's that?" the other parents asked.

"It's when you change diapers and help with housework all summer long!"

In the end, we did send my daughter to some half-day camps and even a week of overnight camp. In fall, when the school year began, more questions started to roll in. "What is your daughter doing on Tuesday afternoons?" "Is she playing volleyball?" "How about soccer?" "What about math enrichment?"

I often respond that my daughter has two after-school activities a week. We think that's enough. More importantly she thinks it's enough and has always drawn those boundaries for herself. She values her unstructured time. What does she with that time? She does silly dances for her brother and sister. She helps prepare dinner. She does her homework. She spends extra time on the assignments that she enjoys. She writes letters to her grandparents and cousins. She reads books. And she sleeps.

I'm saddened how overscheduling our kids has reduced spontaneity in all of our lives. I hate that her playdates and birthday parties are scheduled a month in advance. When parents are rushing children from one engagement to another, they have only short interludes to socialize with one another. If we adults run into each other serendipitously on the street or at school, there isn't time to talk, much less plan a spur-of-the-moment dinner or cocktail.

It's ironic that we are more isolated than ever in an increasingly "connected" world. Perhaps we're giving our kids "every advantage" by rushing them from soccer tournament to violin lesson to swim practice to chess club, but aren't we also depriving them of a childhood? Aren't we keeping them from forging their own unexpected bonds with each other and learning the practical skills of taking care of themselves, like making scrambled eggs and folding laundry? And how will they ever learn to entertain themselves if they are never bored?

Posted by Educator,
a resident of Woodside: Woodside Heights,
on Mar 11, 2014 at 9:00 pmEducator is a registered user.

These concerns relate directly to the brain, how it makes connections, and how it develops knowledge. Reflective time is known to be an essential final step to higher level learning in humans. Think about every class your student takes, and see if you can find this critical reflective time as part of the overall curriculum. You will be hard pressed to find any reflective time.

Camps are an interesting animal, as some are highly scheduled and regulated, while others are more unstructured, allowing students/children to do what they want, when they want, and if they want. We will sometimes see students 'spacing-out' and immediately draw them into some activity. STOP. Let them space out--not in front of the TV, but just in general. Their brain is trying to make connections in ways that are relevant.

There is quite a lot of research surrounding connectedness and lack of time. Social media and the Internet provide perfect examples of a connected life and lifestyle, yet what the research regularly confirms, is that the more connected we are, the more information we have at our fingertips, and the more buried we are by the onslaught of information. Read this article by Vannevar Bush from 1945. You will find it fascinating--at least I did.